About Me

Video games have become a matter of emotional touch, evoking not just sensations but lasting emotive imprints, which hold many of the same characteristics of memorable real-life experiences.- Angelica, 2017

My name is Angelica B. Ortiz de Gortari. I am a licensed psychologist and postdoctoral researcher in psychology with master degrees in Mental Health and Child and Youth Studies.

Currently, I ’m a Marie Curie COFUND Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Liège in Belgium.

After analysing players’ experiences in my thesis I coined the term Game Transfer Phenomenon (GTP). I did my PhD in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University with my topic about Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) (Fenomenos de transferencia del juego).

Over seven years have passed, and I have dedicated the most of my academic career to investigate GTP further, jumping from country to country; Sweden, UK, Belgium and not sure where to next.

Parallel projects I have lately involved include, the longitudinal project on eSports in Nordic Schools (eSportsNSeSportsNS) at SLATE (The Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology) at the University of Bergen in Norway. Also, I’m visiting research fellow at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK.

My experience in the analysis of Internet and new media effects dates back to 1998 when I conducted explorative research at UDEM on the psychosocial effect of Internet and Internet pathological use. This was one of the first empirical studies ever conducted on that subject.

Previously, I used to live in Sweden and I worked at the Swedish National Institute of Public Health (FHI) in the area of pathological gambling.

My interest in the study of interactive media derives from my strong curiosity and need to understand the interaction between human beings and technology with the goal of maximising the psychological and social benefits of interactive virtual technologies while reducing the risks or dangers it can present to some individuals.

I declare I’m a video game player!!!

I have appeared on numerous media since 1999 talking about the psychosocial implications of the internet and video games. This includes TV, radio and newspapers in Mexico, UK and worldwide.

My research on GTP has been featured in different media worldwide such as New Scientist, BBC World Service, The International Herald Tribune, The Guardian, Discovery News, and History Channel News. Also in blogs and online magazines such as Gamespot, Kotaku, Eurogamer, Level.

I’m super excited to interchange perspectives on my research #GameTransferPhenomena in my talk: “Transfer of Gaming Experiences: Considering the Impact of Game Design Beyond Gameplay” with the #videogames masters at Develop:Brighton in July! #ImASpeaker @DevelopConf

October 12th- University of British Columbia, Vancouver. “When the mind keeps playing after the game has been turned off: Game Transfer Phenomena”

October- Visit Brain, Attention, and Reality Lab, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

September 27-30 World Congress of Psychiatry in Mexico City. “GTP and problematic smartphone use in an augmented reality game” & “Can sensory intrusions and motoric activations caused by the use of technology become pathological?”

About Author

Dr Angelica B. Ortiz de Gortari is a psychologist. Currently, a Marie Curie COFUND Postdoctoral Research fellow in Cyberpsychology at the Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit at the University of Liège. Critical inquiry on the psychosocial implications of interactive media technologies has been her professional passion since undergraduate school when she conducted one of the first studies on internet addiction. Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) is her area of research expertise, for which she has won awards. Dr Ortiz de Gortari’s research has been featured in different media worldwide including New Scientist, BBC World Service, The International Herald Tribune, The Guardian, Discovery News, and History Channel News. Her research on GTP has also inspired an episode of the TV series CSI: Cyber. She has published academically and presented at several international conferences. The goal of her research is maximising the psychological and social benefits of interactive virtual technologies while reducing the potential risks it can present to some individuals.